high hopes in paris for a swift military campaign in mali with american and british combat supplies being sent to help and the criticism of french imperialism. with no way out for family aaron swartz points the finger at u.s. prosecutors driving the activist son to suicide. and thousands of kilometers of underground tunnels leave the pentagon in a cold sweat with the u.s. what itself the right to a preemptive nuclear strike on china's atomic arsenal. international

news and comment online on the screen around the world this is. britain has sent one of its cargo warplanes to mali to back the french led military campaign against islamist rebels there london says there's more help to follow with the u.s. and canada also pledging assistance the french military has been involved in combat action in the west african nation since friday in a conflict some see is blowback from the recent interventions in the region with more now from in london. well britain and the u.s. are reportedly providing help with transport and communications in the just texted that means that they're providing transport and planes to help carry troops however we've also heard the u.s. is providing some very limits drones in order to track the movements of the rebels in northern mali and of course it's not just britain and the u.s. now we've heard that a number of other european countries including denmark pledging their support for

the french military offensive in the region so it is growing quite quickly and by sunday we've already had hundreds of french military personnel taking part in the operation officials say that french as strikes are targeting rebel forces rebel strongholds and logistical points however human rights groups are already counting a number of civilian casualties with three children dead since friday and of course this is quite a departure from francois alarms promise to kind of step away from the very paternalistic ties that front's used to have with former african colonies in fact through their differences with nicolas sarkozy he's been just as quick to jump into military military intervention in mali as nicolas sarkozy was jump into a military intervention in libya two years ago so a lot of political experts saying that it could be a way of trying to ratchet up his political polls and his approval ratings because

apparently those have been plummeting it was that he was elected as president last year while the north of mali has been under the control of islamic militant groups that have links to al qaida for almost a year now and it's an area the size of france they've imposed their way a little of that so a stance simply it's a response to the mali government's request for help in trying to sort of hold back these rebel advances of going further into mali but of course many experts are linking this crisis to sort of the libyan legacy of what happened in libya because . the toric people who traditionally came from northern mali they actually made up a large portion of. duffy's army in libya and after the very brisk military intervention that to topple gadhafi many of these toerags actually returned to their native northern mali they took with them a lot of weapons and a lot of these military arsenal has kind of uncontrollably been flowing into mali

now and lots of experts are just saying that this is a real consequence of what happened in libya london based political activist john recites particularly he blames the volatile situations in countries like mali libya and afghanistan on the everlasting attention from the imperial worst. in the middle east the constant attentions of the imperial power generation after generation worsened the problem not made it better i'm surprised that they don't bore themselves by repeating this line we heard it over afghanistan we heard it over iraq we heard it over libya and we should recall that right at the beginning of this process more than a decade ago the head of the security services in britain warned the then prime minister tony blair that the intervention in afghanistan and iraq would spread the threat of terrorism not reduce it that warning has proved sadly absolutely correct

there was no al qaeda in iraq before we invaded there it's now had not spread to pakistan in the way that it has now since the invasion of afghanistan and the intervention in libya has led directly to the spread of al-qaeda in mali and we should at least have learnt by now but this is not the way in which to reduce the threat of terrorism which is actually a way in which you both straight in which you increase attractiveness to young people in the region it is something that identify with perhaps if they want to better relations with the muslim world they can start by bettering the relations with the muslim community in france itself that would be a far more significant step forward than bombing yet another muslim country. is on edge during a lull in flank related riots. majority rally for the nationalists and loyalists protests r.t. explores the demands of all sides that still ahead this hour also. sparks could

fly when germany's economy minister meets with the popular greek opposition leader standing firm against more budget cuts after a short break we speak to eight political economists about what's likely to come out of the discussion. first the family of american information activist aaron swartz says he may have been driven to suicide by the ferocious prosecution process against him he's twenty six the internet crusader faced decades in jail for downloading millions of academic papers which he believed should be available to everyone but also. reports the federal prosecution was relentless. he was a computer prodigy an online optimist co-founder of the social news website reddit and he was also a frequent guest on our team but twenty six year old aaron swartz was also the target of a federal computer hacking case and the trial was scheduled to begin next month

that beginning will never come because swartz committed suicide inside his seventh floor brooklyn apartment in this building behind me on friday morning according to police he hanged himself and left no no behind and according to reports his girlfriend found him in the bedroom with a belt wrapped around his neck now swartz was arrested and indicted two years ago on allegations of breaching a computer network at the massachusetts institute of technology to download millions of pages of academic articles and other documents swartz pled not guilty to the charges which carried a sentence of up to thirty five years in prison and a one million dollar fine in the aftermath of the suicide swartz's family released a statement blaming the prosecution the federal prosecution for driving the twenty

six year old to take his own life they said in part quote aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy it is the product of a criminal justice system right with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach many of sports his colleagues have been quoted remembering him as a genius kid brilliant and funny now at thirteen years old he designed his first web site at the age of fourteen he helped write the ora says a program that alerts users to new blog posts warts also founded demand progress an internet group that campaigns against web censorship and this ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robinhood but his supporters his friends his his family member. it's believed that it was him being targeted by the federal government that caused this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york marina port niamh r.t. . the u.s. justice department has dropped the charges against aaron swartz the activists

attorney has commented on that stating that the dismissal was too little too late well staying with the story i'm now joined by journalist and author of a stoner when his lawyer also said that the dismissal would have been welcome the same time last week well many would say this is a cynical gesture by the prosecution when they would you agree with that yes although it is a formality to after the person has died or anywhere in the search in the circumstance to actually announce that there is no longer a prosecution because i suppose you could maybe bring a family member into court to attest to the charges especially those like a fine or something you could maybe make would pay for the damages well he hacked into a protected database full of protected work and what he did was deemed to be illegal he stole the file so why were people so surprised at his possible sentence well the reason is because mit the institute in the united states where he was alleged

to have engaged in this act did not have any of these protections that would have prevented him from being able to do what he did and in fact it's not really a hack actually what he did was take advantage of a loophole as this one expert witness alex davis was going to say during trial and he put up something over the weekend describing how it was it in fact really easy for for him to do what he did and in a recent article you have written that there are all similarities between what's happened here with aaron swartz and also the treatment of the alleged we can take some form of bradley manning by the u.s. government what have they. well they're both similar both of these individuals believe that information should be made available that that knowledge is power and you know and in chats that people have widely talked about bradley manning

talks about how this should be out there for people to have worldwide discussions. now on this case short says some buddy who had this inclination that information is power and that you shouldn't be able to treat it just as a commodity that copyright hawke's shouldn't just be able to keep this information guarded if if it's available to the world then everyone could be a lot smarter so do you believe there is a situation where material should be restricted or protected or do you think that all the source material whatever it is should be available to everyone because it is on the internet. well i think it depends on a an occasion by case basis but in both of these instances there is is quite an argument to be made that the information that both of these individuals wanted to share more widely should not have necessarily remained concealed do you think the

death of this young man will change the way the people of pursued by authorities in the future. i do not think so i mean certainly you know governments do this with activists everywhere and particularly in the united states we've seen a focus on internet activists as of late and not necessarily unique to the united states but what is remarkable is that there are criminals in the united states that could be prosecuted like bankers are people who have engaged in real crimes like torture but it seems like the justice department in the united states has more interested it has more interest in going after people or people like schwartz just briefly want to ask you the reaction. to this the official mit website was hacked and defaced by anonymous very recently that's the activist group we can extend do you support those sort of tactics. i mean if. i don't know if i definitely want to

say that i support or do not support but i will say that i recognize why they are doing this i mean they believe that the government was wrong to go after schwartz in the way that the government did and so that is why i might use basing this sort of action kevin just on a journalist and author thank you very much indeed for joining us live from washington d.c. . the right to a preemptive nuclear strike against china is not part of us nor thanks to the national defense authorization act the pentagon's also ordered a thorough review of when and how america could strike at a network of tunnels believed to hold beijing's only cost and its or of japan based news website james coleman however suggests altering motives. i don't think that we have to look at this contest bridgeport in the context of they're going to move in with a nuclear strike right at this this point but i think it has to be seen as a wider part of the u.s. nuclear policy that's been stretching up for decades now trying to come up with ways to justify the existence of some of the u.s.

is existing nuclear arsenal and looking for ways to create new weapon this is so for example we have to be sixty one dash eleven nuclear bunker busters that live within four hundred killing time yield that they've been harboring and talking about for in the better part of a decade now in relation to iran and trying to bust through into iran's new underground nuclear facilities or alleged nuclear facilities now they're just shifting that rhetoric over to the asia pacific as part of this age of pacific pivot i think to a certain extent this is just to justify the existence of the u.s. arsenal and to make sure that things like the new starts the strategic arms reduction treaty basically get scuttled before it really gets off the ground and there's a lot in this new and that really speaks to undermine the president's ability should he ever want to to actually reduce the nuclear stockpile so i think the congress is definitely trying to get their foot in the door and stop any types of arms reductions before it can actually be implemented military might over social stability coming up a little later this hour israel launches

a multinational effort drills unprecedented in size and cost people on the street said the government should think again about how it spends its money. plus dying for the future of his children fresh protests in bahrain claimed the life of an l.d.s. inhaled take gas used on a peaceful demonstration that's coming away off to the right. well. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered. you know sometimes you see a story so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought. it was a big. news

today. these are the images the world is seeing from the streets of canada. operations are all. these continues here on r.t. tear gas used by bahraini police to disperse an anti-government protest has killed an elderly man who inhaled it there were angry clashes at his funeral and his nine year old grandson who was also injured by the substance was sent abroad for

treatment well for more i'm joined live by asma darwish from the european bahraini organization for human rights i gather i've just lost her now so we're not able to talk to her just for the moment but i hope that we can go to asma darwish for her live analysis on what had been occurring there in bahrain very shortly so in the meantime meantime apologies for that. belfast is in a state of shaky calm after the silent majority ranted against the violent riots of past weeks rest began when the catholic dominated local council limited the flying of the u.k. flag on civic buildings sparking fears protests by pro british protestants and reports unclear goals on both sides could easily trigger more trouble. time for northern ireland six weeks now since the decision was taken to limit the number of days of the. city hall sparking. out on to

the streets. today some of the worst rioting that has taken place. we have more than twenty nine police officers that were injured at the weekend and the damage the. reputation much much further reaching. and investment in this area. to people from all sides of the debate to find out what exactly should be done. by the like this showing no signs of abating at the weekend loyalists returning from the protest past the nationalist area both sides clashing police thing came under attack from loyalist riot is many in the nationalist community.

angry young lewis pulling back an old sectarian narrative a worrying sign to remember the reality of past troubles. young people why are they coming out and reacting in this way. you have isn't the rights the role of the sea what's happening right now is damaging northern ireland's image around the world can be done to stop this happening right now what would these people respond. to the people on the street.

when do you think this is going to start i don't think it's going. to tough the still some calm in the form of a peace rally held on sunday many here have watched on in bewilderment some in what's been taking place they've been dubbed the embarrassed all silent majority hugo's all things of the sort of embarrassed majority or silent majority would do is that represents to turn to a thing it's quite embarrassing here but. you see in these protests it's just you see this think oh well first we're going to have these mortars in the. truth is like. maybe you could say they're awfully good things happen that's for. sure. the race is now on to come up with a solution to calm the situation before it gets any more and every riot every rock

throwing chipping away at the heart for. peace. r.t. . let's return now to our story concerning bahrain tear gas used by the police there to disperse an anti-government protesters killed an elderly man who inhaled it and there were angry clashes at his funeral well for more now i'm joined live by asma darwish from the european bahraini organization for human rights we now do have contact with us or about communication problem little earlier now to gas is not lethal usually so what happened here why did this old man die. thanks for having me when first to talk about the tear gas effect it is varying in accordance to the type being used and to the quantity being and healed by the individual himself. has been using tear gas canisters or as i like to

call it toxic gases against citizens even in their houses not even across this thing and the streets in a personal experience that happened to me in division when he is that i am nearly nine months pregnant and just now before a few hours of this interview our house was like targeted by keir gas canisters and this men stormed into the house. that that effect of excessive use of tear gas that is being drawn into the houses if that people asked for the for the man who died who is eighty eight years old his house has been targeted several times ago by excessive tear gas and that has resulted resulted in his death but are you saying extra quantities of to gas being used or is that perhaps not a geisha a case that the police could be using potentially lethal substances in that gas as

a result of not just this latest death but also i understand the been reports of other deaths as a result of tear gas poisoning. well the thing is that some of the gases being used does not have any labels or tags on them that indicates their country of origin or the composition of the tear gas itself so basically we do not we as a human rights activist and behind observing the situation and one of. the canisters and we do not see any labels or tags that sure was what is it exactly whether it is toxic gases or gases do you expect some sort of reaction from the international community over the way the authorities are handling what is supposed to be peaceful protests in bahrain actually since tense of tens of. months ago we have been and distressing on them amount of kiyo gas being used in resentful areas and houses and against peaceful protesters and that we are very

disappointed at the international community reaction especially the u.s. and the u.k. position and toured dilution. being being an ally and applying double standards when it comes to dealing with this situation a little the police would say they are reacting to vonne and protests as well so one would ask is is using violence to deal with violence going to bring peace here because obviously it creates a reaction all the protests is going the right way about getting the court heard actually let me make this very clear to you and to everyone who is listening to protestant behavior to start the peace that and it is going to this continuing to be peace then and there why ignorance is coming only from the security forces. working for it for the minister but is there a danger that radicals and extremists could hijack the calls of these protests is

there an element of. actually we cannot call those people radical or extremist because those people are defending themselves or they are going into it to practice with where women and children and the streets and the queer least use excessive force against and preventing them from getting outside the village or even the mean road inside the village itself ok thank you very much indeed asma darwish from the european bahraini organization for human rights good to talk to you live here on r.t. appreciate on. austerity has failed and life itself has rejected it that's the dramatic statement from the leader of greece's opposition during a meeting with the german finance minister the valve going sure will remain unswayed replying simply there is no alternative to comes political analysts and sociologists panagiotis suited us though says austerity has brought ruin to greece mr to present strong point is that austerity is not working there is no end in

sight and what concerns the debt crisis and we are facing much more serious or increased debt and a bailout package this debt restructuring has not been successful in the core of the problem and moreover austerity has brought us i see the devastation recession. extreme unemployment all kinds of social problems this week point of mr to press in my opinion is that the position of his party is not us terribly but yes for the euro zone as long as it has this is this was this an in favor of the euro of the euro zone at all costs that is where european powers especially germany would press or. some greek situation pretty extreme ways of showing they're fed up with a government a man opened fire on a quarter of the greek ruling party with a k forty seven group has claimed responsibility for the shooting comes off the back of

a wave of similar attacks. on dot com for you and also online. piracy invades new york state governors declared a health emergency over the spread of the influenza its use of a demick is already five times the size of last year's. israel's launch what's expected become the largest ever multinational air force exercise lasting the entire year but as artie's paula slip now reports the costly project has left many israelis wondering if the military is where the money is needed israel and the united states are sharing military drills bigger than any they've done in the past thousands of troops and millions of dollars but with social grievances that still need to be addressed and a prime minister looking for votes ahead of early january elections israelis are asking themselves yet again if netanyahu has his priorities straight. he's a cup at least and under his term as we saw in the last few years of the cleavage

between poor and rich we go. the big elephant in the room is the defense budget israeli military spending was not supposed to grow more than one and a half percent a year but those figures have more than doubled in the last three years alone and now after an eight day war with hamas in gaza the defense establishment is pushing for even more money netanyahu chances of a victory come january are high and television homeless are preparing themselves for more of the same joys of bench moment arrived at this tent city with nothing more than the clothes on his back and a tank of gasoline threatening to set himself on fire. and went over to me by the state nothing more nothing less i sold my country as a soldier and i will stay here to the end i do not fear death i saw it in the army many times but is this what i deserve. his tears echoed the pain and abandonment people here feel the government has no time for us there is

money there is a lot of money to help people like us netanyahu couldn't care less he will win again i know this will be the same it's a disgrace the prime minister netanyahu has formed committees to deal with the demands of anti austerity protesters but they complain he hasn't taken a single concrete step to address the concerns of the us i think we need to invest more in social issues housing and cost of groceries and keep the security budget in proportion of. security of society it's more important not less important than their security. officer but the voice on the street is drowned out by the rumble of weaponry and tell of obsession in showcasing its military prowess policy r.t. television now some international news in brief tens of thousands of protesters are gathering in pakistan threatening to emulate the current.